---
title: The first night the city was spared, because an old woman working at… — Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat · tree and pragmatics
description: The first night the city was spared, because an old woman working at a wheel kept awake all night, as the voice had commanded. Who acts: old woman. A sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat, Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh., sentence 188

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The first night the city was spared, because an old woman working at a wheel kept awake all night, as the voice had commanded.

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**Who acts:** old woman · **What happens:** spare, work, keep, command · **To what, where:** city, voice · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old woman), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg76982:10:188
# text = The first night the city was spared, because an old woman working at a wheel kept awake all night, as the voice had commanded.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	spared	spare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	parataxis	_	_
13	working	work	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	wheel	wheel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	parataxis	_	_
18	awake	awake	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
19	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	20	det	_	_
20	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	commanded	command	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spare** | past · passive |  | the city |  |  | night |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: subject=Asset |
| 2 | **work** | gerund | a old woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at a wheel | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at wheel=Theme |
| 3 | **keep** | participle |  |  |  |  | night | a old woman *parataxis*; awake *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **command** | past · perfect · passive |  | the voice |  |  |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: subject=Eventuality |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, Project Gutenberg book 76982 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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